The Bible Recap - Day 230 (Jeremiah 38-40, Psalm 74, 79) - Year 6

Episode Date: August 17, 2024

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. I bet you forgot about the Psalms, didn't you? We're still chipping away at those guys bit by bit. Today we opened with a story in Jeremiah 38 that reminded me a lot of another story we read before. Did this give you flashbacks to Joseph's story in Genesis 37? We even saw some similarities in yesterday's reading too. They were both wrongly imprisoned but earned favor with the king through their humble service.

And today, Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern kind of like the pit Joseph was thrown into. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Jeremiah is still preaching repentance to Judah, and his warning still lands on people as though it's a pro-Babylon message. The local officials think his prophecies are bad for morale, so they want him killed. It seems to be the only way to silence him. King Zedekiah, who has an amicable relationship with Jeremiah, claims that he can't stop them from taking action, and he's probably afraid of what they might do to him if he tries to oppose them.

For those of you who are familiar with what happens between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, does this remind you of that scenario? If you're not familiar with it, you can check it out in Luke 23 and see how similar it seems to you. The officials take Jeremiah and throw him into a cistern. If you've never seen a cistern, imagine a huge milk jug buried in the ground. They're intended for storing water, but since Jerusalem has been under siege, they're nearing the end of their water supply, and this cistern happens to be empty.

Cisterns can be as deep as 120 feet, but most average around 20 feet. That's a two-story building. The opening at the top is usually only about two feet wide, and the walls are often coated with plaster. I'm not telling you all this as some kind of DIY cistern building tutorial. I'm telling you this because all these details make it clear that this situation

was designed to kill Jeremiah. This isn't prison. There's no way he can climb up smooth plaster walls for two stories to escape. And as if that situation's not bad enough, he sinks into the muddy bottom of the cistern. He's quite literally stuck. This is a desperate situation, but way back in chapter 1 verse 19, God had promised Jeremiah, "'They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you,'

declares the Lord, "'to deliver you.'" He's done it before, and he'll do it again. This time, God delivers Jeremiah by bringing his situation to the attention of an Ethiopian eunuch who lives in the king's house. The Ethiopian asks for permission to rescue Jeremiah, and King Zedekiah gives it the thumbs up. The Ethiopian raises Jeremiah out of the cistern using the old bedsheets out the window trick, except in reverse. It's telling that Jeremiah, prophet to Israel, is rescued by a non-Israelite. An Ethiopian is the only one brave enough and compassionate enough to act on his behalf. The Israelites are selfish and wicked and are set on punishing the prophet, not helping him.

After his rescue, the king summons Jeremiah and they both bring their own fears to the table in this conversation. Jeremiah fears more punishment and the king fears pretty much everything Jeremiah has ever told him. But despite his fears and all he's been through, Jeremiah's directions to the king remain unchanged.

Surrender to Babylon, he says, but the king is afraid of being punished by some of the Judeans if he does that. Zedekiah tells Jeremiah how to respond when people ask about their conversation later, and he feeds him lines from a previous conversation they've had. So when people ask,

hey, what did you talk about with the king? Jeremiah answers accordingly. It's a bit of a technical loophole since he had talked with the king about that at some point. It's definitely misleading, but God doesn't seem to punish him for it. Perhaps because it's one of those times where a human life is at stake, and that's of greater value. In chapter 39, after one and a half years of being under siege, Jerusalem falls to Babylon in 586 BC. It all happens just like God promised, including Zedekiah being captured and punished.

The Babylonians carry the rest of the people into exile, except for a few of the poor people who posed no threat to them. Then King Nebi of Babylon tells his people to go get Jeremiah. As far as Nebi is concerned, Jeremiah seems to be on his side because he kept telling Zedekiah to surrender to him.

So he says to take good care of Jeremiah and do whatever he says. This reminds me of what Jesus said in Mark 6 about a prophet having no honor in his own hometown. Jeremiah gets treated better by his country's enemies than by his own king. God gives Jeremiah a word for the Ethiopian eunuch who saved his life. God promises to spare him in the midst of all the judgment on the land because he demonstrated his faith in God. Once again, the outsider is welcomed into God's family.

In chapter 40, it seems that Jeremiah is accidentally taken captive along with the rest of the exiles. The captain of the guard releases him and gives him some options. You can come with me back to Babylon if you want and I'll take care of you there. Or you can stay in Judah and live with Governor Getheliah, the guy Nebi has appointed to keep things running smoothly there. Jeremiah decides to stay in Judah and live with Getheliah. When word gets out that he's governing Judah, a lot of the people who fled the country start coming back to live there, because life isn't so bad there by now.

Meanwhile, some military leaders warn Gethaliah that one of his main supporters is actually plotting his death, but Gedaliah dismisses it as a lie. We close by reading two Psalms. Psalm 74 is perfectly suited to what's happening in Judah. It's hard to know if this was written as a prophetic Psalm about the destruction of the temple or if it was written in the aftermath of the destruction. It has a lot in common with Psalm 79, but one thing distinct about Psalm 79 is that the psalmist holds the people of Jacob responsible for breaking the covenant.

The people have sinned, and this is the consequence they've been promised. But the psalmist begs for mercy and relief, appealing to God on the basis of his name and his power. And that's where my God shot came in today. Verse 9 says, Deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name's sake. This plea was answered with a yes when Christ died for the sins of God's people, past, present, and future. His death covered the sins of Asaph the Psalmist and the remnant among Judah. And verse 11 makes me think of all those who don't yet know God and His goodness.

It says, according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. Beside this verse in my Bible, I've written the names of people I love who don't know Yahweh. I'm begging Him to give them hearts that fear Him, to draw them to Himself. And I'm praying that same prayer for any of you who don't know Him, and for any of your loved ones who don't know Him. According to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. The greatest death is to never know Him, to be separated from Him now and forever. Because He's the way, the truth, and the life,

and he's where the joy is. You and I are a little over a month away from starting the New Testament together. Can you believe it? As we inch closer to October 1st, I'd love for you to be thinking about who you want to invite to read the New Testament with us. Share a story or an Instagram post about your journey

through the Old Testament, and invite your friends to join us in October for the New Testament. We've even made it easy for you. We've built out a few slides and posts and QR codes that you can use on your socials. So if you want to grab those, check out thebiblerecap.com forward slash invite, or click the link in the show notes.